Peter Molynuex Thinks Modern Games and Their Devs Fear Risk: 'Making Sequels Used to be Shameful'
According to Fable creator Peter Molynuex, the current realities of the gaming industry effectively block developers from creating entirely new, revolutionary brands.
Anyone who follows the game industry even a little bit has certainly noticed that it has been operating very conservatively in recent years. Due to the ever-increasing development costs and the risks involved in game development, developers rely on proven IPs, which are often a guarantee of success. Industry legend Peter Molynuex is of a similar opinion.
The creator of the iconic Fable recently gave an interview to The Gamer. In the interview Molynuex revealed that when he was working on the sequel to his RPG, there was a perception in the industry that making sequels was a shameful practice. Therefore, the developers could not afford to let their games evolve.
"It sounds completely crazy in today's world, [but]. creating sequels was shameful. So when we started thinking about a sequel, we found that we simply couldn't create a bigger arsenal and a more extensive landscape," he explained.
Lionhead Studios then took a huge risk, adopting a much darker atmosphere in Fable II. Molynuex noted that in this day and age no one would allow themselves to take such an approach.
"We were fearless back then when it came to such things. Now we would never do it, because we would probably have to face a [negative] response. It was a big risk. I think nowadays people are a bit more averse to making such bold decisions," he added.
This is not to say that game developers have stopped taking risks. The problem, however, is that in most cases the attempt to bring some freshness to the industry ends in huge losses. A perfect example is the poor reception of Forspoken, which led to the dissolution of Luminous Productions and the team's absorption by Square Enix. A similar fate befell Striking Distance Studio, whose failure to meet expectations with The Callisto Protocol led to layoffs.
Finally, let us remind you that work is currently underway on the latest installment of Fable. Have the developers from Playground Games also taken a more conservative tactic in making the game? The game's release date has not yet been revealed, so we will have to wait a while for the answer.
